Longtime Utah legislator and labor activist Ed Mayne dies

Utah senator and assistant minority whip Ed Mayne, D-West Valley City, died at his home Sunday morning of complications related to lung cancer.

The 12-year Utah senator and state president of the AFL-CIO has been fighting cancer since he was diagnosed in April of this year. Despite his chemotherapy treatments, Mayne remained active in state politics.

Since the end of the 2007 session, Mayne has spoken out against school vouchers and spoken in support of reforms in the constructions industry. During the session, he sponsored a bill to raise the state minimum wage to $7 an hour. The bill did not pass.

Mayne raised his voice in support of the working poor for more than 30 years, according to a Sunday press release from the Utah AFL-CIO.

"He believed that the American Dream is not just for the lucky among us but should be a possibility available to all of us," the release said.

The family of the distinguished senator has asked that the community not mourn his death but that it instead speak for the voiceless and empower the powerless.